Office of the VP for Communications – Keeping alumni and friends connected to U-M

Commencement under quarantine

COVID-19 may have forced 2020 graduation ceremonies to go virtual but proud Michigan Wolverines, their families, and loved ones still celebrated this milestone in resilient “Go Blue!” style. These jubilant images were posted at #mgograd on Instagram. They are reposted with permission.

Hail to the Victors!

“Yesterday my nephew Luke Kiernan graduated from the University of Michigan,” posted professional photographer Mike Roemer. “Some of Luke’s aunts, uncles, and cousins surprised him with a drive-by graduation celebration as he had a celebratory brunch on the front porch of his Green Bay, Wis., home with his family. Congrats Luke!”

Walk the walk

Just eight days before graduation with a master’s degree in public health, Camile Molina got the opportunity (her words) to volunteer with the Detroit Health Department to help with COVID-19 testing. “With my last week of MPH classes wrapping up, I am so thankful for this opportunity of public health in action. Testing is such an important part in combating COVID-19 and I was very excited to be a part of it!” she posted.

Flying the flag

“Our youngest Wolverine, flying the flag as we drive by to congratulate a couple of M grads today,” says Traverse City, Mich., resident Juliette Goodwin. That’s her son Nickolaus Goodwin, 11. “Wish they were at the Big House but they are alumni all the same!” Juliette posted. Dad Bradley Goodwin graduated from LSA in 1991 with a degree in psychology.

#GirlDad

Father Ira Baer could not contain his head-to-toe excitement on daughter Jamie Baer’s Commencement. “My baby baby is a graduate today!!!!” exclaimed this proud #girldad and well-dressed papa. “HAIL TO THE VICTORS!”

Who is that masked man?

#FutureDoctorRightHere

Honors graduate Kaila Gagne commanded the stage in Westhampton, NY, when she received her diploma under an arch of balloons. “We are so proud of our University of Michigan Graduate,” posted mom Jennifer Castellanos Gagne. “What is better than receiving your diploma from your dad!?”

Looks real to me

“Not quite the Graduation Day they had hoped for, but Julia and her roommates definitely made the best of it!” said Julia Dreher’s proud mother of her daughter’s “temporary” diploma noting her master’s in business administration, international studies.

Thank you for your service

“Today I commissioned into the U.S. Army as a 2LT on Zoom from my house … the ‘rona has changed so much,” posted Ian Carter.

Screen savers

Wrestler Ben Lamantia (see him down in the corner there?) shared his day with loved ones regardless of the distance that separates them. The University’s wrestling account noted, “Congrats to @ben_lamantia! Celebrating graduation with family, even from opposite sides of the country. Ben earned a bachelor’s degree in biopsychology, cognition, and neuroscience last spring and a graduate certificate in real estate development today.”

Pomp and circumstance

“This is what happens when mothers decide that no pandemic is going to deprive their boys of a proper college graduation,” posted Jenn Tendero about the homestyle march staged by her son, Max Tendero, and his roommates. “So proud of these guys. All graduations should be this fun.”

Big House, big screen

Wolverine must have been booked

Eashwar Mohan took no chances with his personal safety on Commencement Day. “Congratulations to the Class of 2020. Forever Go Blue!” said this super-human grad. “I’m excited to share that I will be continuing my studies at the University of Michigan, pursuing a master’s degree in computer science! My first three years at the University were a success, and I’m so excited to make my fourth and final year the best one yet!”

A class unto itself

A well-dressed Nicole Wozniak did it up with two digital screens ensuring the diploma and the Big House were both represented on Commencement Day. “Only 2020 grads will remember,” she posted of this bizarre experience.

State of mind

“Celebrating graduation in quarantine style,” says Tiffany Burton, dressed in her Michigan regalia. “I’m excited and blessed to finally be an alumna of the greatest university in the world. Forever go blue!”

The barefoot professa

Even professors got in on the alternate action: “I always wanted to go to graduation barefooted and without pants! Happy Graduation,” says Angela D. Dillard, the Richard A. Meisler Collegiate Professor of Afroamerican & African Studies and in the Residential College.

Big House or bust

The School of Public Health account posted this photo of Madison Hafitz, noting she “found a socially distant and safe way to celebrate her new degree at the Big House and snapped this perfectly posed photo!”